If I Die Young

The Band Perry - If I Die Young
Uploaded by UniversalMusicGroup. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

Pancake Head - No Longer

That's right, my son used to be somewhat of a pancake head, but as of today he is not that any longer. He went for his 4th helmet check (about 5 months) today and the doctor gave us the great news that he doesn't have to wear it anymore. He said he looked great and will continue to round out a little more on his own, but the helmet has done its job. YAY!!! We were so excited. Except now I have to actually watch him real close to make sure he doesn't whack that little noggin on everything. It's been a little journey and now we're finished with it.

I know that sometimes it's a little hard on my heart when Carter has these tiny little battles in his life, but it's nothing compared to what he could be facing. Over the weekend my high school youth pastor's niece passed away from cancer at the age of 5, when just 10 weeks ago she was a normal, happy, healthy little girl. It's things like that, that make you really check yourself about what you're complaining about. Maybe Carter has had to go to several specialists for various issues since his birth, but nothing we have faced has been something that wasn't fixable. The doctors that Ava went to couldn't fix her, so God took her home. I can't even imagine going through that with my child. I may never understand why things like that happen, but I know that I will shut my mouth about the little stuff and give Carter lots and lots of hugs and kisses everyday, because you never know when life can be torn away from you.

As for now we will celebrate Carter's helmet coming off and pray for a family that has had to face the unthinkable. God Bless all the little children and the people that love them.

9 months

Well Carter has officially been out of the womb as long as he was in it. Today marks his 9 month birthday. To celebrate, daddy and I sang him happy birthday this morning. If it's possible for a 9 month old to be confused, I definitely think he was. Okay, so it's not really your birthday, but every month counts these days! He is now crawling, standing (while only hanging onto something with one hand I might add), jabbering a whole lot (mostly consisting of dadda dadda daddy dadda da), and eating some whole foods with the two teeth that he has. I predict he will be walking in a month. He went to the doctor for his 9 month checkup yesterday and weighed in at 22 lbs 8 oz. and was 29" tall. His growth spurt has slowed a little bit, but the doctor just said "well he used to be quite the chunker, but he seems to be slimming out a little". He's still above average on his height and weight though. I talked to the doctor about his acid reflux and told him that the 2 prescribed anti-acids didn't work, so I quite giving them to him. I said it has gotten a little better since he's sitting up on his own, but he still spits up now and then. He said if it didn't completely go away once he was about a year, that he would send him to a specialist. That's when he asked "have I sent you guys to a specialist before?" Now keep in mind that Carter had his helmet off, so the obviousness of that wasn't staring him in the face, but here's what I really wanted to say. Ummmmmm......YES!!!! Are you kidding me?!! We've only been to a bone doctor at Vanderbilt for his broken collar bone, a physical therapist for his tortacollis, a plastic surgeon for his head, an orthotics specialists to make his helmet, a gastroenterologist for his acid reflux, and that doesn't include the places we've gone to have CAT scans and X-Rays done. So needless to say, I just looked at him with a blank stare on my face.

Anyway, on a different note, Carter had his 9 month shoot with Master Creations Photography, http://www.mastercreationsphoto.com/, and we decided to do a big rig shoot. Since our family owns a semi truck dealership and he's been around trucks his entire 9 months on this earth, it seemed fitting. Plus we tried to incorporate a semi truck tire in his newborn shoot, but something about him getting his little winky stuck between tire tread didn't make him too cooperative. So we tried it again and he enjoyed it so much more this time. Here are some of the pictures.
So now that we've done a baby-on-a-truck shoot, I'm not sure what we'll come up with next. Hmmmm....gotta get creative here. Anyway, I'll go think about it and get back to you. Until then, enjoy these pics!

Insane

Yes I must be insane, because I've signed myself up for Insanity. The workout program that is. I've been hearing sooooooooo much about P90X from so many of my friends, but didn't think I had the time for any workouts that last over an hour considering I work so much, so I was told about Insanity. A couple of people I know have done this program and said it's just as intense, but a little shorter and doesn't involve buying weights. So I went ahead and ordered it. I've told my husband that he has to do it with me, but considering he works outside in the 95+ degree heat all day, I doubt I will get his full commitment. I'm so on board for this, it's not even funny. My problem is that I tend to get into a workout routine for a couple months and don't see the results I want, so I quit. This program promises great results after 60 days.

I'm so ready to be in good shape again. I was a little chunky in high school and during my sophomore year of college I decided to change that. I started working out and lost 30 lbs. and was in the best shape of my life for a few years. I ran about 3 miles a day, boxed, and did weight training. I actually had a 4 pack (not quite a 6 pack, but close). Then I got married, started working full time, and quit working out. I then packed on 15 lbs.....and then I got pregnant. And as bad as I don't want to admit this, I gained like 52 lbs during my pregnancy. Out of control!!!!! So I've lost 37 of those 52 pregnancy pounds, but want to lost another 30 to get back to my slim figure.

Diet and exercise go hand in hand and when I'm working out so hard to lose the weight, I don't allow myself to eat all the junk because it's like throwing my hard work away. So if I can really commit to this Insanity program, I think I can lose the weight. Cross your fingers folks!! It'll be here in a few days. My only question is....do you do the 60 days straight? or is it like 5 days on 2 days off, until you hit 60 days?

August Update

And you probably won't get another one until September. I know I'm lame, but between working 50 hours a week, loving on my child the other part of my week, and squeezing in household duties in the little bit of free time I do have, I just don't have time to blog. Or I just don't have the desire anymore. I start an entry many times and then just get tired and delete it; but I promise to finish and publish this one. So here we go.

I took Friday off work to celebrate and enjoy my 25th birthday and spend a little time with my baby Carter. Just spending a couple of uninterrupted days with him has proven to me that if I blink, he'll be graduating college. He has now gotten 2 teeth in, is crawling with full force (belly off the ground and everything), and is now pulling up on things and standing on his own 2 feet. I left him in the family room for less than 30 seconds the other day and when I came back, he was standing up and holding onto our ottoman. I almost died. or cried. whatever. I was excited but so terrified at the same time. I then made it a priority to get all the baby proofing essentials from Toys R Us this weekend. I put soft corner pads on my coffee table but have since decided to remove it from the room all together. That way Carter will have more room to play and I won't feel the need to rap my table in bubble tape. Like I stated previously, Friday was my birthday and my wonderful husband woke me up early to give me my first gift. It's sheer proof that he does listen. I had told him I wanted a bike trailer to pull Carter around in and that's exactly what he got me! I was thrilled! So thrilled that once the temps dropped to around 90 at about 8:00 at night, I hooked him up and we went for a sweltering bike ride. I enjoyed it very much, but will enjoy it much more when I don't feel like I'm going to die of heat stroke. Carter will be 9 months old on the 19th and about a week after that we will be taking him on our first family vacation. We've booked a loft in Savannah, GA and we're going to spend a week down there at the end of the month. I hope it's not boiling hot, but I'm afraid it will be. Oh well, that's what the beach is for, right? And I do miss the beach. Tennessee has some of the prettiest lakes I've ever seen, but no beaches so if you don't have a boat, you can't really take advantage of them. But besides the beach, I'm really looking forward to the Paula Deen tour! I think it may involve eating a stick of butter and drinking mayonnaise, but I'm totally up for it.

Oh, I almost forgot. Tomorrow night I'm dragging my husband to a Hanson concert at the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville. Yep, you heard me right....Hanson. I'm still a teeny bopper at heart, so every time they come to Nashville, I go see them. Don't be jealous.

Anywho, that's all for now folks. See ya again in another 6 months. Just kidding.........I think.

Yes, I'm Still Alive.

Yep, still alive, just been far too busy to think much about blogging. And I sorta, kinda lost my passion for typing out everything that was on my mind. Buuuuuuuuut...none the less, I have an update for ya'll. So here goes it.

Carter will be 8 months old on the 19th (let's not talk about the fact that I still haven't lost all the baby weight). I just can't believe he's growing up so fast. Before you know it, we'll be celebrating his 1st birthday. Apparently he has saved up a lot of new tricks and has waited until this past week to start showing them off. In the past week he has learned how to sit up on his own, crawl (army style) and he's even cutting his first tooth. It doesn't help my fear of him growing up too fast when he meets these milestones all at once. He's also eating more solid foods, like puffs, baby cookies, mashed tater tots, and anything I think he won't choke on. Oh and even started eating jarred meats!! Let's just say, he wasn't exactly happy about it.

So here is some proof of Carter's advancement in life.

Despite 4 out of 5 pictures showing Carter without his helmet, he still wears it 23 hours a day. I just usually snap a picture of him in the morning or while he's eating and that's when he gets his breaks. His head is rounding out nicely, but he's still got some progress to make. He'll probably have it for another 4 months or so. But I actually love it, because I don't have to worry about him smacking his head on the hardwood floor or the tables, or walls, or any hard surface for that matter.

He was diagnosed with reflux recently and has been put on 2 different medicines to try and help it, but nothing has worked. So I'm taking him off of it and seeing if this "sitting independently" thing will do the trick. I've heard that once babies can sit up on their own, the spitting up stops. So we'll see!!

Anywho, that's all I have time for now. Later.

Big Boy, Big Trucks

Carter had a helmet appointment today, so he skipped daycare and came to work. Living like a rebel. Sittin' on the big trucks and not caring about wearing his helmet!